Inferring Hominin Behaviour during the Acheulian from Surface Artefact Scatter Study: An Example from Tikoda Locality‑I and III, District Raisen, Madhya Pradesh

Suman Pandey

Central India, particularly Madhya Pradesh, is known for prehistoric remains. The area confining to Narwar–Tikoda–Damdongri in District Raisen has been subjected to investigation since the seventies. The first investigation of Acheulian culture in this area was undertaken by Jerome Jacobson. In recent years, a systematic geo‑archaeological investigation has been carried out in the area for understanding various facets of Acheulian culture. This area, with an interesting landscape configuration including the availability of raw material, played a major role in shaping the Acheulian assemblage of the area. Distinct landscapes are noticed with the Acheulian localities of Tikoda close to raw‑material sources in the Vindhyan landscape. Attempt has been made in the present study to understand the Acheulian lithic surface scatters in Tikoda Locality‑I and III. As it is known, nearly 99.5% of Acheulian sites in the country are on the surface, and these sites are getting exposed just because of soil erosion mostly due to deforestation and various other human activities. It is generally believed that artefacts, when exposed to the surface, get disturbed; hence nothing can be determined on hominin behaviour except a general assessment of assemblage configuration. However, in the present study, methodology is being developed to collect the data meticulously with a view to retrieve the information on hominin behaviour as far as possible. Refuting the notion that the exposed artefacts on the surface are disturbed and hence discarded, the present study tries to develop certain methodology to study the artefacts on the surface and understand hominin behaviour as far as possible. The present methodology developed for studying such sites includes landscape demarcation, site‑plan preparation, plotting of artefacts along with typological studies, weathering pattern, abrasion, and spatial patterning.